KILLING IS MY BUSINESS, AND BUSINESS HAS BEEN BETTER, BUT IT'S A CYCLICAL BUSINESS AND THE INDICATORS SUGGEST THAT IT WILL PICK UP: We haven't talked about Generation Kill yet, and it doesn't seem to be getting more than low-grade buzz. That's odd for a high-profile HBO drama backed by the Wire team of David Simon and Ed Burns debuting in a drama-thin summer following a long strike drought.
Part of the problem is that outside of Baltimore Simon and Burns (or whoever is responsible creatively; I haven't been paying attention) have been seduced by the same material used by every Iraq drama from Three Kings on -- hazy desert landscapes and sunsets, anachronistic collisions between 21st-century warriors and medieval farmers, the moral dilemmas confronted by soldiers who try to mediate between their jobs and the effect they have on the people around them. Add to that a theme common to both Iraq movies and The Wire, that of bureaucracy and bureaucrats confounding the work of the men of action, and the show seems disappointingly familiar. It's hard to fault Simon and Burns for having less of a command of Iraq and the military than of Baltimore and the BPD (and it's certainly unfair to compare anything to The Wire), but Generation Kill, despite its source material, definitely seems written from the outside looking in.
That's not to say it's not worth watching. I'm enjoying it, and as genius TV auteur follow-up projects go, it's not a mess like Studio 60 or John from Cincinnati. And I don't remember how I felt about The Wire two episodes in. I was just hoping for more, that's all.
Incidentally, if you're inclined to post a comment, remember: NO POLITICS.
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